


End of the Line

by Burgie



Series: SSO Wild West AU [1]
Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-15
Updated: 2018-02-15
Packaged: 2019-03-18 22:34:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13691235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: Eden's money just keeps disappearing, and she doesn't know why. Eden belongs to SSO-Eden-Dawnvalley on tumblr, Jack belongs to SSO-Jack-Wolfwatcher, and Ronja belongs to NumiTuziNeru.





	End of the Line

Eden’s hand trembled as she looked at the piece of paper that the banker had given her. No. No, this couldn’t be right. Her vault had been full of money, almost overflowing with it (well, almost overflowing to the middle of the room), so how could she only have a handful of precious Star Coins and Jorvik Shillings to her name? Her bottom lip trembled as she crushed the paper slightly in her hand and got to her feet from where she had fallen on the front step of the saloon. Putting one foot in front of the other, Eden marched across the road to the bank from the saloon where she worked. The teller, a small, bespectacled man, looked up when Eden walked through the swinging doors and slammed the piece of paper down on the counter. Her eyes blazed with fury.

“Yes, Miss Dawnvalley, how can I help you?” asked the teller, pushing his glasses further up his nose.

“I believe that you have made a mistake,” said Eden, lifting her chin up. “I should have more money than this.”

“Well, I’m sorry, but that’s what our bankers counted,” said the teller. “And we have the best bankers in the country, here at the First Bank of New Jorvik.”

“Can I request a recount?” asked Eden. “Or perhaps I could go in and see my vault myself?”

“I suppose that you can go in and have a look yourself,” said the teller. “I trust that you are the real Eden Dawnvalley?”

“The one and only,” said Eden with a shrug. The teller nodded, then hopped down from his very tall chair and led the way through the bank and down a corridor behind a locked door. This second corridor was lined with bank vaults, smaller rooms that were kept safely behind locked doors to which only the tellers and bankers had access to. It was very warm in here, but the beads of sweat that rolled down Eden’s face and neck came mostly from her own anxiety. What if she found her vault empty?

“Here is your vault, Miss Dawnvalley,” said the teller, stopping in front of one door. Eden recognised the number of the vault as her own, and trembled as she watched the teller remove a key from around his neck and slide it into the keyhole. Behind this door was the door of a safe. He touched the knob of the safe door next, turning it until the door unlocked with a great click. Eden took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment as the safe door swung open.

When she opened her eyes, though, Eden’s heart stopped dead in her chest and sank to her toes. She began to shake. No. No, this couldn’t be happening, why did this keep happening? Her eyes blurred with tears so that for a moment, it looked like there were more coins in the vault. But there weren’t. Instead of the bags and stacks of coins that she should have, the only things in Eden’s vault were a few small piles of coins, barely enough to keep her horse fed.

“No,” Eden whispered, her hand covering her mouth. “Why does this keep happening to me?”

“Now that I think about it, it is rather strange that your vault is always empty,” said the teller, rubbing his chin with his hand. “I know that you work at the saloon as a barkeep, so you should, rightfully, have more money than this.”

“I know,” said Eden, covering her face with her hands. “I know I put my money in here.”

“Yes, I’ve put it in here myself a few times,” said the teller. “I remember doing that. The fact that you have no money now is just… extremely odd.”

“And you haven’t been robbed?” asked Eden, looking down at the teller. She didn’t want to look at her pitifully-empty bank vault.

“No,” said the teller, shaking his head. “The sheriff is quite good at keeping bandits and outlaws out of town.”

“Has this happened to anyone else?” asked Eden.

“I’m afraid not,” said the teller. “Or if it has, they haven’t brought it to my attention. I’ll look into it for you.”

“Thank you,” said Eden, nodding at him gratefully. Though, a large part of her thought that they wouldn’t find anything. That would be just her luck.

Jack looked up from the glass that he was eternally trying to clean as the saloon doors swung open, admitting his fellow barkeep.

“Hey, Eden,” said Jack, smiling at her. Eden didn’t smile back. “Ah, shit. What’s wrong?” Eden shook her head, walking around behind the bar and immediately pouring herself a glass of the strongest liquor that they had. She gulped it down, then poured herself another glass and drank that, too.

“You’ll never guess what happened,” said Eden, leaning against the back counter as she nursed her third glass of alcohol.

“Again? Seriously?” asked Jack.

“Mm-hm,” Eden hummed in the affirmative, and drank half the glass. “Every month, the same thing happens. All my hard-earned savings, just poof. Gone.” She looked down into her glass, swirling the liquid around.

“Does the bank know?” asked Jack.

“Well, they do now,” said Eden with a shrug. “Maybe it only happens at certain times. Maybe I should go work with Miranda, she takes care of her girls.”

“Absolutely not,” said Jack, putting a hand on her arm after placing down the Eternally Filthy Glass. “You are not going to work in that whorehouse just because of a little bad luck.”

“I’d call missing money more than just a little bad luck,” said Eden, giving him a stern look. She shrugged, finished her drink, and poured out another.

“I wish I could help you,” said Jack.

“Yeah, so do I,” said Eden. “But I don’t know if anyone can help me. If they can, I’ll marry them on the spot.” She sipped at her drink this time, the alcohol already going to work on her system, soothing her frazzled nerves.

“Then I take back my wish to help you,” said Jack. Eden smirked at him, giving him a gentle punch on the shoulder.

“Ass,” said Eden. “But thanks for trying to take my mind off it.”

“Look, just don’t sell your body for money,” said Jack. “If this keeps happening, then it’ll all be for nothing. And besides, we all love you here.”

“Only because I make a mean Bloody Mary,” said Eden.

“We love you for other reasons too,” said Jack, rubbing her shoulder. “You look after Ronja even though you don’t have to.”

“Someone has to look after our local street urchin,” said Eden.

“And you’re a great friend and shoulder to lean on,” said Jack. “Just like a good barkeep should be.” Eden smirked.

“Yeah,” said Eden. “I know, I just get a bit down whenever this happens. I’ll get over it in a few days, you know me.”

“If you don’t drink enough to forget it first,” said Jack.

“That’s a great idea,” said Eden, knocking back her glass. “Let’s do that.” Jack took the glass from her, and swiftly bulled Eden out from behind the bar and through to the back of the saloon where the pantry was.

“Let’s not,” said Jack. “I’ll lock you in here with the potatoes until you sober up.” Eden stuck her tongue out at him, but lowered herself down until she was leaning against a sack of potatoes. Jack closed the pantry door, and Eden sighed into the cool room, closing her eyes. Maybe a good sleep was all she needed, and she’d feel better in the morning once the inevitable hangover passed.

A scuffling sound stopped Eden from being able to sleep, and she opened her eyes to see a ragged girl with messy black hair crawl out from beneath some stacked crates. She had an onion in her hand, and, as Eden watched, she took a bite out of it. Eden cringed.

“Ronja, please go and get Jack to cook you something,” said Eden. “Don’t eat that.”

“Nah,” said Ronja, walking over and taking a seat beside Eden. She continued to munch on her onion, speaking around a mouthful of it. “I don’t wanna impose.”

“I insist,” said Eden, her eyes watering at the onion fumes. “I can’t, in good conscience, sit here and watch you eat that.”

“But I wanna eat it,” said Ronja. Eden sighed and closed her watering eyes again. When Ronja finished eating, she discarded the scraps, wiping her hands on her trousers, and snuggled up against Eden. Eden smiled. Miranda might pay more and look after her girls, but she probably didn’t have this. Only the local saloon had a friendly neighbourhood street urchin living there. Eden wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she just up and abandoned her. So maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing that Eden’s money kept disappearing. Or maybe she just needed a pet.


End file.
